Can you keep it?
by hopingforabetterheart
Summary: Human!stuck in which all the trolls have things to hide from one another and the daily struggle is heart wrenching routine.
1. Prolouge

So this story, if you couldn't tell from the summary, is the daily struggle of human!stuck trolls trying to keep whatever it is they have to hide a secret. While some, such as Eridan and Feferi, are trivial matters, others, such as Tavros and Meenah, have a deep emotional connection to it. Each chapter will either be a family or an individual character, as is needed with some. Please enjoy!

UPDATE.

Okay. So I was typing up the first chapter for this. Its four pages back and front. I was at the bottom of the back of the third page. I'm on mobile and I went to check snapchat. When I came back to my browser. IT WAS ALL GONE. Therefore, the next chapter will NOT be uploaded tonight. Its nearly midnight and I can't spend another two hours on the chapter I JUST typed up. I might post tomorrow or whenever. But I promise by this time a week from tomorrow, you WILL have the Medigo chapter which is about 1400+ words. Apologies for the inconvenience.

* * *

Everyone has something to hide. And these kids are no exception. All of them have something to keep from their group of friends and the secret is kept between them and one other. Or a few others. Everyone has something to hide. And without a doubt, at least someone knows what it is.


	2. Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Chapter list.

Chapter 1 (technically 3): Aradia and Damara

Chapter 2 (4): Tavros

Chapter 3 (5): Sollux and Mituna

Chapter 4 (6): Karkat, Gamzee, and Kankri

Chapter 5 (7): Nepeta and Meulin

Chapter 6 (8): Kanaya and Porrim

Chapter 7 (9): Terezi and Latula

Chapter 8 (10): Vriska, Aranea, and Meenah

Chapter 9 (11): Equius

Chapter 10 (12): Kurloz

Chapter 11 (13): Eridan and Cronus

Chapter 12 (14): Feferi


	3. Medigo

Anyways. I finally am getting around to doing it. I have to wait before I can start on my homework, so I'm taking now to type it up. I realized today that chapter two needs a lot of revising still. So even though I'm about halfway through with chapter 3, it might be a while before I get to posting Chapter 2.

TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR THIS CHAPTER

Self-harm

Cigarette smoking

Homosexual parents

Slight bullying

References to drugs

Here goes. Aradia and Damara.

* * *

"Wake up, sleepyhead." the somewhat hoarse, tenor voice filled the room. It was fluid, but a little nasally. The owner of this voice stood in the doorway, leaning against the door frame, smoke curling around the figure. "But Damara..." a new voice replied to the existing one, seemingly coming from a heap on the bed. "No buts, Aradia. I don't want to be late."

The girl who actually was the heap on the bed sat up, glaring at her sister. "Does mom know you're smoking that inside?" she gestured to the cigarette held between Damara's fingers, dark eyes narrowing. "Oka-san's already left for work. Get up." Damara replied slightly coldly, before leaving her sister's presence. Aradia groaned, glancing at the clock beside her. She estimated she had about 15 minutes before Sollux would be there to pick up Damara and her.

Releasing a sigh of defeat, she stood from her bed and walked over to her vanity. It was a Japanese antique from her grandmother. Tiredly, she rubbed at her eyes and began her morning routine. The first thing was to brush her hair, of course. The task was easy and quick. She had long, sleek, manageable hair, its ebony color being from her Hawaiian and Filipino ethnicity. Most people just assumed she was Japanese because it showed heavily in her facial features and she dressed the part.

Next, she stood from the vanity, walking back over to her bed where she picked up white clothe bandages from her night stand.

She hated this part.

She heaved yet another sigh as she began to stare at her arms. Scars. And lots of them. Aradia had always had severe depression, and a history of self mutilation, accompanied by several suicide attempts. Outside of her family, only her best friend, Sollux, knew. The amount of scars was an uncountable number, and they were all thick and slightly indented, suggesting how deep the wounds were. They were all over her body. Up and down her arms, all the way around both thighs, scattered about her hips, and the fresh ones, which lay between her shoulder blades.

It wasn't that she was exactly ashamed of them, but she kept them covered. She began to wrap up her arms from her hands all the way up to her shoulders. Even when she would wear long sleeves, she would do this, in fear of something happening, and for changing clothes before and after gym.

One finished with her arms, she pulled off her shorts and started on her legs. She wrapped from the very top of her thighs to just below her knees. She then moved to her closet, grabbing out the only clean outfit, a mock-up Japanese schoolgirl outfit. All of her clothes were hand-me-downs from Damara. She got dressed quickly, briefly admired the long skirt of the uniform in the mirror, and returned to her vanity.

Not too terribly concerned about her personal appearance, she never really wore much makeup. Just a bright red signature lipstick. With finishing this, she pulled on her socks and ballet flats, just having tucked some hair behind her ear as she heard a familiar lisp from downstairs, and Damara's broken Japanese.

Grabbing her bag off the floor, she headed downstairs to see Sollux and Damara conversing over cups of tea. "Good morning, Aradia." Sollux flashed a smile, pushing up his glasses. Aradia bowed her head in a slight manner as a response, jumping the bottom two stairs and beginning to make her breakfast. "Where's bicyclops?" she asked, popping two pieces of bread into the toaster. "Waiting outside probably sucking face. So we really shouldn't tale too long."

Bicyclops was the nickname Sollux had given to his parents. Since he had two dads, it was easy to use. The cyclops part came from the fact they both only had one eye each. They met at a prosthetics auction. Aradia nodded and pulled her now toasted to perfection bread from the toaster. Within minutes, they were out the door. The three slid into the backseat nearly silently and Sollux had to clear his throat to get them to realize the teenagers were there and to break their liplock. "Oh, g-good morning, Aradia." one said. "And Damara." the other, Sollux's biological dad added. "Ohayou godzaimasu!" Damara chimed. "Still hasn't even learned good morning?" Sollux remarked lowly, turning to Aradia, who simply shook her head.

In truth, Damara had learned English when she was little, but kept it a secret in order to avoid school work and other drama. It was a real hassle and terribly annoying to those around her, but she believed it to be the best.

The ride to school was a short one, and silent, save for Aradia munching on her toast. Upon arriving, the Medigos thanked the Captors, and the three of them went their separate ways. Sollux went to his first hour class, which was two grade levels above him. Damara went off to get high with the Makaras and Mituna.

As for Aradia, she was off to the counselling office. Since her last serious suicide attempt, she had been forced into seeing a counsellor on a daily basis. She signed into the office, moving to HIS sub-office. He was already standing there, waiting in the doorway.

"Good morning, Miss Medigo." he greeted, showing an unreadable grin. She had never liked him. The only good side to their little talk sessions was that he had a pool table in his office and, being obsessed with the game, they always played. "Morning, Doc Scratch."

She didn't really like calling him that. She was pretty sure it wasn't even his real name. How could it be? With the billiards reference, she believed it to be impossible. A cue stick already in either hand, he offered one to her which she took without hesitation. She began to rack up the balls, as was routine. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Doc Scratch take his favourite cue ball from a glass case. He was obsessed with the thing, and it freaked her out.

But that was nothing. There was worse. She didn't mind him taking away her so-called 'privileges'. That didn't phase her. Not when he 'playfully' swatted her with his broom. Not even when he tells her what's to become of her, or refers to her as his. None of that meant anything to her.

It was his knowledge and omniscience. He knew everything. Even before she knew her problems or mentioned anything to him, he already knew the problems and had formed an opinion on them. She was convicted of this to the point she was 90% sure he knew the answers to all the questions he was going to ask before he even knew the questions he was going to ask.

"Now. Miss Medigo," he began, chalking up his cue stick. "I'll give you back your bean bag privileges if you decide to cooperate this morning." he picked the racking triangle up off the table, watching analytically as Aradia chalked up her own cue stick. She felt inclined to replied sarcastically, and did just that. "Is that supposed to be an incentive of sorts? Its not very well planned, Scratch. You know my past. And this supposed privilege is only in one class. Listen to your logic from my perspective, if you'd be so kind. The entirety of the science department replaced their normal, boring chairs with bean bags. So you single me out and I'm given a spare normal chair and desk. Making me stand out. Making me.. different. I'm sure you've heard what people say about me. 'Look, its the ghost girl!', 'I saw her talking to the air the other day.', 'She's so weird!', 'Did you hear about what she did to her pet frog?'. People say things. And they stare. You'd think I'd be upset, or hurt. Maybe even intimidated." She paused here, leaning over the the table and cracking the racked balls, sinking ball 2 and 5.

"I pick solids. As I was saying, you think I'd have a negative attitude about the matter at hand. And that I'd give you what you want. But you'd be wrong. I'm ok with it. I'm ok with a lot of things."

She muttered. They continued with their little banter of his logic and intentions. It was mostly Doc Scratch rambling and practically repeating the same thing over and over. He loved to hear himself talk. Their game was over in a matter of minutes, both of them being skilled. "I won. Sit." Doc Scratch commanded, pointing at the chair in front of his desk. Rolling her eyes, Aradia complied.

"Now. Have you done it recently?" Doc Scratch sat in his plush chair behind his desk, putting on a pair of reading glasses. "Time is relative, Scratch. Recently can be within a matter of hours, within a matter of days, weeks, months, years even." He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in irritation. "When did you do it last, then?" She put a finger to her chin, in thought. "Recently."

"What day did you last mutilate your beautiful body, Miss Medigo?" his voice now adopted a stern tone. She scowled. "Saturday. Two days ago." she answered, the less than 24-hour fresh cuts on her back burning at her lie. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Ara-" Doc Scratch was then interrupted by the sound of the bell. Aradia quickly grabbed her bag and left, before he could say anything else.

After stopping at her locker, she headed to her second hour class. Every step she took seemed to weigh her down more and more. Second by second, she felt their lingering gazes. She heard their hushed whispers. And with each friend that smiled at her in the hall, she smiled back. And each smile she flashed killed her a little more. The scars burned a little more. Her friends saw her as the one who was pessimistic but always smiled.

If only they knew.

* * *

So, in case you couldn't tell. The thing Aradia hides is her self harm. The thing Damara hides is her ability to speak English.

Next chapter is Nitram! Well, Tavros. Rufioh's only a small character, but he plays a huge role. Reviews would be greatly appreciated!


	4. AUTHOR'S NOTE

I'm soooo sorry, but I've gotten behind. I probably won't update until mid to late next week. I have to finish my Bro cosplay for the meetup on Sunday, and I still need to revise and rewrite the next chapter before it goes up! 


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